Iran.

[Martin]

I think Bush is an idiot for making such a remark. He is the only one that wants this war so bad.

Bush attacking Iran would lead to WW III.

North Korea threatened countries the same way Iran threatens Israel all the time...and guess what? North Korea has nukes now. Is it WW III here now? no... we didnt do squat. We just sat around and let them get their nukes.

Who says Iran would ever use their Nukes ? ...thats IF their even making Nukes which they deny. Countries get Nukes only for defensive gains. So that other countries wont screw with them.

Bush is a paranoid little freak that thinks every Axis of Evil country is going to use their nukes. That whole administration needs to be booted to prevent WW III from happening.

[waltky]

Martin wrote: North Korea threatened countries the same way Iran threatens Israel all the time...and guess what? North Korea has nukes now.

Actually No. Korea has agreed to give up their nukes and dismantle their facilities in exchange for much needed food and fuel aid. It ended up being a bargaining chip to get what they wanted. There is however, evidence that they have shipped their technology to Syria in the recent Israeli strike on a secret Syrian nuclear site.

US could change missile plan
October 18, 2007 - THE US could change its approach to developing its missile shield if Iran were to suspend uranium enrichment, a senior US state department official said today.

Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said US officials had explained Washington's stance to Russia in talks at NATO headquarters to help allay any fears that the shield would be a threat to Russia. "Our real concern is not Russia," Mr Fried said in Brussels. "They are intended against the major problem we see developing, which is Iran, and if that problem went away or attenuated we would obviously draw conclusions," he said.

"This is a threat-based system, and we would be affected if Iran gave up its enrichment and worked with the international community, and had a different approach to things. "We explained this to the Russians," he said. "They seemed interested in the concept." The United States has started talks with Poland and the Czech Republic on installing 10 missiles interceptors and a radar base, respectively, on their territories, a move which has angered Russia.

However Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that the United States may be ready to soften its position over its move to install the shield in central Europe. "The latest contacts with the Americans demonstrate that a certain change in their point of view is possible," he said during a visit to Tehran. "We will continue our dialogue."

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U.S., Israel agree to develop new missile defense system
Oct. 17, 2007 -- The United States and Israel have reached an agreement to work together on a multi-layered missile defense system to guard against tactical rockets and longer range ballistic missiles, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The agreements were reached Tuesday at the Pentagon by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.

The two sides agreed to form a committee to upgrade and expand their existing missile defense systems to counter "not just the long-range threat coming from Iran, but short range Palestinian rockets coming from Gaza," the spokesman said.

Israel has deployed its Arrow anti-missile system, which was jointly developed with the United States and was said to be able to counter most missile strikes against the Jewish state.

Source

[Martin]

Actually No. Korea has agreed to give up their nukes and dismantle their facilities in exchange for much needed food and fuel aid.

Whats the use when they already have plenty of nukes packed away now... Iran will probably agree to the same thing once they have a big enough arsenal.

[waltky]

Crackdown on dissent gonna be a hard time for critics of Ahmadinejad...

Leadership change in Iran's IRGC
18 October 2007 - Iran selects commander with experience in combating internal dissent

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his close advisers appear to be taking the US war rhetoric seriously. However, Khamenei is not preparing his nation to withstand the US militarily, but to simply groom the regime's security forces to cope with the post-attack phase. That is, to reduce the likelihood of internal revolt at the hands of the many indigenous anti-Islamist factions that will be emboldened following a potential US military attack.

Deliberations in Washington about listing the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation is perceived by Khamenei as another step to pave the way to attack IRGC assets without a need for US Congress' authorisation. This represents a fatal risk to Khamenei, as the IRGC remains the primary armed entity entrusted to guard the theocratic regime that Khamenei oversees from the Office of the Supreme Leader.

Khamenei's decision to replace Yahya Rahim-Safavi, the outgoing former head of the IRGC since 1997, complies with the general rule of authoritarian regimes to rotate senior military commanders in order to prevent the rise of powerful military rivals. But on this occasion, the timing suggests the appointment of Mohammad-Ali Aziz-Jafari, the new top IRGC commander and also the head of the Basij Islamist militia forces, was less about the aptitude of Safavi as a potent political contender and more about assigning the fate of the Islamic Republic to someone with a hands-on record in combating internal dissent.

Leadership change in Iran's IRGC - Jane's Security News

[waltky]

Hmmm, no war for no nukes...

Rice says U.S does not want war with Iran
Sunday 11th November, 2007 - United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has denied the U.S is bent on war with Iran and has renewed an offer of reconciliation talks on the condition of Iran renouncing its nuclear drive.

Dr Rice said the United States and its European allies had already offered Tehran trade and political incentives to stop its enrichment work. Interviewed on America's ABC television, Dr Rice was asked about a Senate resolution that labelled Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist operation, a step that critics said had brought war nearer.

She said that President George Bush was clear "that he's on a diplomatic path where Iran comes into focus." Dr Rice, said strong measures needed to be taken against Iran, but these had been done after the Bush administration announced new sanctions on Iranian groups, including the guards. Dr Rice spoke a day after Mr Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed diplomatic strategy towards Iran.

The two leaders appear to differ over when additional sanctions should be imposed on Tehran, with Ms Merkel preferring to wait until European and UN diplomatic efforts have run their course. Mr Bush and Vice President **** Cheney had been using aggressive rhetoric against Iran, with the President warning of the threat of World War III if Iran were to make nuclear weapons.

Rice says U.S does not want war with Iran

[waltky]

Iran trying to provoke war...

Iran Threatened to Blow Up US Ships
Monday, Jan. 07, 2008 (WASHINGTON)—An Iranian fleet of high-speed boats charged at and threatened to blow up a three-ship U.S. Navy convoy passing near Iranian waters, then vanished as the American ship commanders were preparing to open fire, the top U.S. Navy commander in the area said Monday. No shots were fired and an Iranian official in Tehran said the incident amounted to "something normal."

Bush administration officials complained that the Iranian actions amounted to a dangerous provocation, but one private analyst said the Iranians may have believed they were acting defensively in a narrow waterway that is heavily trafficked by commercial ships, including oil vessels. The incident raised new tensions between Washington and Tehran as President Bush prepared to depart Tuesday on his first major trip to the Middle East.

The three U.S. warships — cruiser USS Port Royal, destroyer USS Hopper and frigate USS Ingraham —were headed into the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz on what the U.S. Navy called a routine passage inside international waters when they were approached by five small high-speed vessels believed to be from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy.

The Iranians "maneuvered aggressively" in the direction of the U.S. ships, said Vice Adm. Kevin Cosgriff, the commander of U.S. 5th Fleet, which patrols the Gulf and is based at nearby Bahrain. The U.S. ship commanders took a series of steps toward firing on the boats, which approached to within 500 yards, but the Iranians suddenly fled back toward their shore, Cosgriff said.

Cosgriff was not precise about the U.S. ships' location but indicated they were about three miles outside Iran's territorial waters, which extend 12 miles from its shores, headed in a westerly direction after having passed the narrowest point in the strait. At one point the U.S. ships received a threatening radio call from the Iranians, "to the effect that they were closing (on) our ships and that the ships would explode — the U.S. ships would explode," Cosgriff said.

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U.S.: Iranians 'Were a Heartbeat From Being Blown Up'
January 07, 2008 - The standoff between three U.S. Navy ships and five Iranian speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz Sunday was one step away from turning violent.

"They were a heartbeat from being blown up," a Pentagon official, speaking of the Iranians, told ABC News. According to the Navy intelligence report on the incident, the Iranians radioed, "I am coming at you. You will blow up in a couple of minutes." The Navy ships radioed back, presumably transmitting a warning. All three ships also engaged in "evasive action," and according to senior Pentagon officials, the "prepare-to-fire" order had been given and the gun stations manned.

Pentagon officials today expressed surprise the Navy ships allowed at least one of the Iranian speedboats to get so close -- just 200 yards away -- without firing. They say at least one of those speedboats boasted a machine gun, and all were behaving as if they were packed with explosives. A Navy official told ABC News that while there have been similar incidents in the Gulf, Sunday's differed because of the "aggressive actions" taken by the Iranians.

"I've never seen a provocation like this is in international waters," another military official who has served for more than 25 years said. The White House seconded that notion. "We urge the Iranians to refrain from such provocative actions that could lead to dangerous incidents in the future," White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said. Published reports cite the Iranian Foreign Ministry as confirming the incident but calling it "ordinary."

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[waltky]

Granny says Fearless W gonna have to lob a few mortar shells back at `em so's dey get the message to knock it off...

Iran military 'shells Iraq villages'
March 20, 2008 - THE Iranian military has shelled seven Iraqi border villages, causing no injuries or damage but terrifying residents, an Iraqi official said.

Yesterday's shelling was apparently aimed at bases of Kurdish rebel group Pejak (Party of Free Life of Kurdistan), said the mayor of Zarawah, a frontier town in northeastern Iraq. Pejak is accused by Tehran of launching deadly attacks on security forces in northwestern Iran. "Iranian troops fired artillery shells at border villages inside Iraq," said mayor Azad Wassu, under whose jurisdiction the villages fall, adding the attack lasted 30 minutes and seven villages were hit.

Zarawah is near the major town of Qalat Dizhan, about 160 kilometres north of the city of Sulaimaniyah in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region. Iran in September confirmed for the first time it had fired artillery shells on camps of Kurdish militants inside northern Iraq, saying the local authorities had heeded its warnings. The shelling, in August, sent hundreds of Iraqi Kurds fleeing remote mountain villages near Iraq's eastern frontier. Pejak is linked to Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Earlier this month, Iraq and Turkey pledged to take measures against PKK rebels in northern Iraq during talks to soothe tensions following a Turkish cross-border offensive against the militants. Turkey charges that more than 2000 PKK militants use northern Iraq as a base for their separatist campaign against Ankara and accuses Iraqi Kurds of tolerating the rebels.

Iran military 'shells Iraq villages' | NEWS.com.au